Power Play
by Neil Davies1
Summary: Part 4 of 7, as the Doctor mind melds with Spock, Kirk takes a desperate gamble in an attempt to prevent the daleks from massacring his friends. This episode follows on from 'Regeneration' see March 3rd.


5

POWER PLAY

Part 4 of 7

McCoy clasped Christine Chapel's hand firmly giving her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. There were two grey daleks and a black dalek, the latter spoke in a cold, arrogant voice wiped any trace of humanity

 _You have been selected for extermination the female will be the first._

Too much of a southern gentleman to allow this Bones said, "No kill me first, I'm the eldest."

Gallantry forbade Scotty from allowing this, "No kill me instead."

But the black dalek was unimpressed _the selection has been made, extermination will commence in 20 seconds._

Inside the TARDIS Kirk was distraught, no not Bones he couldn't bare to see his old friend cut down. "Let me out of here," he cried looking at the vast double doors. Not making any attempt to argue the Doctor astonished Kirk by lying back down on the white table.

"I'm going to mind meld with your first officer," he said and Kirk remembered how this man had spoken with Spock's voice when they first met.

"But that requires physical contact."

"Not for a time lord."

A man of action by instinct and training Kirk couldn't just pay a massive role, "I need to do something as well," he said grimly.

"Distract the daleks, delay them anyway you can."

As the Doctor fell back into a coma Kirk dashed to the main door, tore it open and yelled, "Wait we're coming out."

Lens rotating toward shim the black dalek snarled, _where is the Doctor?_

Jim had to think quickly and be convincing, "He's not well some kind of physical crisis." To his surprise this explanation was accepted.

Then the black dalek barked _Lower your force field._

Kirk didn't have to fake his anxiety this time, "I can't I don't know how."

 _Then stand aside and leave the tardis door open._

From the sucker arm came a gentle pink radiation, not a weapon Kirk was sure. It teased the edge of the force field before melting through and entering the blue box. Reaching the central console it washed over this like a searchlight moving from meter to meter, dial to dial until it found a cluster of red switches.

The pink light deepened to red and the switches flicked down, at once Kirk felt the air pressure around him shift as the force field dissipated.

Gliding up to and passed him the black dalek entered the tardis, sweeping up the main ramp it came upon the Doctor playing its probe over him questioningly.

At the same instant a panel fell open on the side of the console, Kirk draw a draw inside and within this lay a metal tube he recognised. Surreptitiously he went over and plucked the object tout, a hollow tube. His heart raced a she realised what it was, a dalek gun.

On the back end with a black cable leading to a small box upon which was a power switch. The tardis had given him a special gift, a fighting chance and he knew he couldn't waste it.

Gun hidden behind his back he turned to the black dalek, "What are you going to do?"

 _The Doctor is an old enemy of the daleks he must be destroyed, but it cannot be done in here as the tardis has special powers. You will carry the Doctor outside._

"What about my friends," Kirk asked not trusting these creatures at all?

 _They will be released_ the words didn't sound remotely sincere to Kirk.

"Release my friends first," he bargained, "Then I'll do what you want."

The counter proposal was considered then swivelling around the black dalek bellowed to its subordinates _bring the human prisoners in here as hostages._

No compromise no trust; these daleks made Klingons look like pussycats thought Kirk.

Spock's eyes flicked open, they were the Doctor's eyes now to as two minds occupied the same body. Leaping off the bio-bed Spock went over to the computer interface. Nobody knew the enterprise computers better than him and the Doctor understood dalek cyber viruses.

Combining their knowledge the two minds worked keys at lightning speed, they had to arrest the dalek control of the ship but there was another task to be performed first and the hostage stand-off made it vital.

The enterprise could manipulate many forms of electricity – storing it, increasing it and bleeding it away – static electricity being one of these, something the daleks needed to function without it they were helpless.

The dalek facing McCoy swung in his direction. _Move into the tardis now._

McCoy eyed the small blue crate wondering how two men and a dalek could fit inside such a small thing, Scotty to was puzzled,

"Och lad there isna room in there," he said his Scottish burr thickening when he was under stress.

Unimpressed the dalek guard rasped _obey without question._

Raising his voice McCoy called out, "You okay in there Jim? It's going to be a tight squeeze."

Inside the tardis Kirk smiled to himself, Bones and Scotty would be amazed if they knew the truth, what would the engineer make of it all?

"Why not just let them go," he pleaded but the black dalek ignored him.

Christine came in first, her features a picture of amazed disbelief, then McCoy whose eyes popped, "What in tarnation is this?"

Then finally Scotty, who took it all in with commendable aplomb,

"Saints preserve us," he said and broke into a wide grin, for a man like him this must be an Aladdin's cave of wonders.

As the two grey daleks tried to enter Kirk acted, this was his moment, swinging the dalek gun around he fired and with a satisfying double blast of flames and sparks the daleks were destroyed.

Then Kirk turned to the black dalek covering it, "Okay," he said, "Now I'm giving the orders and this time you'll obey."

"We can beat the daleks," The Doctor's mind told Spock's mind. "They have a fatal weakness which we can exploit."

To which the Vulcan science officer replied. "I believe you are correct it will involve risking the lives of the crew."

"Their lives are already at risk Mr Spock, the daleks are totally ruthless. To reproduce themselves they will rip out great chunks of the enterprise to make new shells then genetically alter the smartest members of its crew to create proto-dalek embryos."

"Extraordinary," said Spock. "a self-perpetuating mutation. What a pity we don't have more time to study it."

The Doctor had seen quite enough of his old enemies up close to last him every lifetime he had.

"They have to be stopped," he replied flatly.

"Indeed," said Spock, "We will need to link up your ship's power systems to the anti matter containment pods of enterprise Doctor?"

Sulu, Chekov, Uhura and everyone else on the bridge looked up in horrified fascination as three grey daleks emerged from a turbo lift then fanned out to cover them. The dalek leader gazed at them coldly through its eye stalk before announcing with grim finality _we have been betrayed, the black dalek taken prisoner, we are to begin exterminating the bridge crew until he is released_.

Uhura gasped in horror gazing from the daleks to her colleagues, none of whom moved a muscle so she said, "You can't just kill unarmed people, we're no threat to you."

Nice try said Sulu's raised eyebrow, but somehow I don't think reasoning with these things is going to work.


End file.
